Identity-theft Scammers Pretend to be IRS

Now they're phishing for private information via fax -- while pretending to be the IRS.

The phony e-mail arrives, pretending to be from "Internal Revenue Service," with a subject line such as "please see the attachment."

One e-mail still circulating yesterday had two attachments.

One looks like a letter on official IRS stationery, saying: "Our records indicate that you are a non-resident alien."

The other is a copy of an actual IRS form.

The recipient is instructed to "make sure you fill all the columns" -- including Social Security number and bank-account information -- "and send fax to" a phone number.

The form also instructs: "Attach photocopy of passport or US drivers license for proper identification."

Behind this scam are identity thieves, not the IRS.

"To be honest with you, that's pretty clever," IRS spokesman David Stewart said. "They're using our very own forms on the attachments. . . . We've always said don't reply, but we never said don't fax anybody."

The IRS got wind of this phishing expedition about six weeks ago, Stewart said, and has worked to shut it down.

But, as is often the case, the perpetrators keep changing where they e-mail from, he said.

The IRS never e-mails requests for private information, he said.

"We're not going to ask for Social Security numbers, bank accounts, PINs and passwords. That's just not going to happen," Stewart said.

Anyone suspicious of an e-mail supposedly from the IRS can alert the agency by forwarding it to phishing@irs.gov.

For more from the IRS on identity theft and phishing schemes, go to http://go.philly.com/phishing.

Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com.

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